La Toussaint

La Toussaint, or All Saints' Day, is an important Catholic holiday, particularly in France.
After watching the video, scroll down to the transcript and click any word for the English translation and links to related grammar lessons.

Translation Notes

1. When referring to aspects of the holiday that apply only to France, I kept the term in French.

2. Some of the tenses don't match. In French, we use the present tense to describe historical stories like this to evoke a sense of immediacy, whereas in English, we commonly use the past tense - learn more about historical French tenses.

More French reading practice

Q&A relating to this exercise 4 questions, 10 answers

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AnitaC1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

C’était un peu du n’importe quoi

C’était un peu du n’importe quoi- why isn’t it “c’était un peu de n’importe quoi “ ? I always thought that de was used after a quantity ?

Asked 4 weeks ago

Like0Answer2

CélineKwiziq team memberCorrect answer

Bonjour Anita,

With the expression "n'importe quoi" you can use 'du' or you will omit it (de) entirely:

C'était (du) n'importe quoi ! = It was nonesense!

C'était un peu (du) n'importe quoi ! = It was a bit of a mess!

See partner's link here: N'importe quoi

Attention :

C'était un peu de café = It was a bit of coffee

I hope this is helpful.

Bonne journée !

Like03 weeks ago

JimC1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Hi Anita,

It's a bit of a shambles or a mess so is it not the case that "du" is partitive here? Part of the uncountable?

This how I see see it -- hope it helps?

Jim

Like04 weeks ago

Anita asked:View original

C’était un peu du n’importe quoi

C’était un peu du n’importe quoi- why isn’t it “c’était un peu de n’importe quoi “ ? I always thought that de was used after a quantity ?

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PatriciaC1Kwiziq community member

Que veut dire chafouille? J’ai cherché dans plusieurs dictionnaires mais je ne le trouve pas.

Asked 1 month ago

Like0Answer6

CécileKwiziq team memberCorrect answer

Hi Patricia,

Having checked with the team and with some people in France, it appears that no one has heard of the word 'Chafouiller'.

From the context, it would be the equivalent of 'déranger/ ennuyer/ embêter ( what bugs someone).

We suspect that the 'locuteur' probably mixed up a couple of similar verbs - which can happen to anyone on the spot.

As it is a third-party resource ( for which we did the transcript ) we can't say any more than this but are prepared to be enlightened if the word actually exists as language is always evolving.

Good conversation!

Like04 weeks ago

MarkC1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Click on the word in the text and will translate the phrase for you.

Found this which helps.. but agree, it ain't there! « Je te sens d'humeur chafouine aujourd'hui »

Juste un mot. Depuis le XVIe siècle, le terme signifie d'abord sournois, rusé, retors, déloyal. Comment, alors, son sens a-t-il migré vers cette idée de mauvaise humeur ?

Dans le parler populaire de certaines régions, les Charentes notamment, le chafouin est le mâle de la fouine.. but mauvaise humeur about sums it up!

Like01 month ago

PavelQRC1Kwiziq community member

S'il s'agit d'une conjugaison verbale, alors c'est manger salement et sans appétit.

Mais je n'ai pu dénicher non plus la signification apportée dans le texte.

Si on tape dessus, ça montre la traduction comme synonyme de exaspérer.

De nos jours, le sens a sans doute évolué du fait que la plupart d'entre nous serait dégoûtée de voir quelqu'un mangeant de la sorte.

Like01 month ago

PabloA1Kwiziq community member

Variante dialectale de cafouiller (« agir de façon désordonnée et inefficace

Like01 month ago

JimC1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Hi Patricia,

Try here it may help you:-

https://www.wordreference.com/fren/%20chafouine

Jim

Like11 month ago

MarkC1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Don't know why this is so difficult. The translation is given by clicking on the word in the text.. "bugged him".. mauvaise humeur.. made him as cross as a weasel.. It is not in my Robert, Linguee, nor my Larousse de (grande) poche.. so is clearly not a word in general use.

.. and thanks for the link to wordreference.. clearly the second meaning.

Like01 month ago

Patricia asked:View original

Que veut dire chafouille? J’ai cherché dans plusieurs dictionnaires mais je ne le trouve pas.

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KishoriA2Kwiziq community member

On se peut traduire "un peu de soleil" comme: to shed light on?

Bonjour Laura, merci pour l´exercise,

je voudrais savoir si j'ai compris bien cette expression, "un peu de soleil" est idiomatique aussi.

Merci d´avance¡¡

Asked 1 year ago

Like0Answer1

CécileKwiziq team memberCorrect answer

Hi Kishori,

The reader is suggesting that his programme will bring the listener a bit of sunshine (not a bit of light) referring to the lack of it outside. So it is quite literal.

Hope this helps!

Like01 year ago

Kishori asked:View original

On se peut traduire "un peu de soleil" comme: to shed light on?

Bonjour Laura, merci pour l´exercise,

je voudrais savoir si j'ai compris bien cette expression, "un peu de soleil" est idiomatique aussi.

Merci d´avance¡¡

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DrewC1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Qu'est-ce que c'est "le ciel blue?"

"Le seul qui a les yeux le ciel bleue qui n'y a pas dehors." What does this phrase mean?

Asked 2 years ago

Like0Answer1

TomC1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor Correct answer

Hi Drew,

This is my take on it. the actual sentence is:

"La seule qui a dans les yeux le ciel bleu qu'il ny a pas dehors". "La seule" is referring back to "l'émission" in the previous sentence. The sentence can be translated figuratively as :

The only one (émission) that has blue skies in its eyes when it's cloudy outside. "qu'il ny a pas dehors"i.e but there is no (blue sky) outside.

Quite a tricky sentence!

Hope this helps,

Tom

Like02 years ago

Drew asked:View original

Qu'est-ce que c'est "le ciel blue?"

"Le seul qui a les yeux le ciel bleue qui n'y a pas dehors." What does this phrase mean?

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